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Tzav-Parah 5760Volume 20 · Issue 27
Saved and Redeemed
To relate to our quality as the smallest of all the nations (Devarim 7:7; Chullin 89a), to heed the voice of Yaakov, we must find ourselves in houses of prayer and houses of learning (Yalkut Shimoni chapter 115). It is not anywhere outside. Even on the inside, it is necessary to be more and more vigilant. This defilement originally emerged from houses of learning (Sotah 47a), and it can reenter
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Shemini-HaChodesh 5760Volume 20 · Issue 28
Time of Freedom
Both are mentioned in the Thirteen Principles of Faith, according to the version found in Ashkenazic prayer books. Its authorship may be unknown, but the wording is sourced in the words of the Rambam himself.
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Emor 5760Volume 20 · Issue 29
Basking in His Radiance
He wrapped himself in his prayer shawl and stood in prayer before God, while his disciples sat and learned.
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Ki Savo 5759Volume 20 · Issue 3
Blessings and Reward
But there were places where the Torah was completed once in three years (ibid. 29b; Rambam Hilchos Tefillah 13:1). In the ordinance of the weekly Torah Reading, the Torah could be completed even once in five years.
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Bechukosai 5760Volume 20 · Issue 31
Exertion in Torah
feet to Your testimonies.” King David said, “Master of the World! Every single day I would consider and say whether to go to this place or to that house, but my feet would bring me to the houses of prayer and study.”
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Korach 5760Volume 20 · Issue 35
Twilight of the Future
This teaches us that the concept of peace belongs to Him alone. Nothing has the power to make peace between all contrasts in the world. As we say at the end of the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer, “He makes peace in His heights” (Iyov 25:2). There is an angel over water and an angel over fire, polar opposites, and God complements them and creates one reality where they coexist (Rashi; Shir HaShirim Rabbah 3:11).
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Haazinu 5760Volume 20 · Issue 6
Book of Originality
It is also very hard to understand what he means by the end of pardon and forgiveness for Israel. His source is apparently the closing prayer of Yom Kippur, “God our Lord gave to us with love this day of Yom Kippur, the end of pardon and forgiveness for all our sins.” But the meaning is obscure.
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Vayeira 5760Volume 20 · Issue 9
Existential Truth
As we know, the commandment is to have faith, and we indeed have faith in God and all the principles of faith. As stated in our prayer books, we believe with absolute faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, creates and governs all creations, and that He alone is the One Who does everything, whether in the past, present, or future.
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Ki Sisa-Parah 5761Volume 21 · Issue 23
New Heaven New Earth
The explanation is that the Torah has a place. The Creator placed it in the Tabernacle, in the Holy Temple, and always, in houses of prayer and learning. Consequently, it should be impermissible to take the Torah out of its place.
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Devarim 5761Volume 21 · Issue 37
Gates of Tears
Communal Prayer
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Haazinu 5761Volume 21 · Issue 6
Embrace the Moment
The Ten Days of Repentance encompass the Day of Judgment and the Day of Atonement, and days of prayer.
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Terumah 5762Volume 22 · Issue 20
Pivoted Coercion
At the end of the Shemoneh Esrei Prayer, one of the sages would pray instead of Elokai Netzor, “It is revealed and known before You that our will is to perform Your will. And who impedes? The yeast in the dough,” the Evil Inclination, “and the enslavement
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Balak 5762Volume 22 · Issue 32
Required Mockery
foreign. As Rashi explains (Devarim 11:16), they are foreign to their worshippers who cry out to them and who go unanswered. No idolater thinks the deities he worships and depends on, whether the sun, moon, or star, hear prayer. He is well aware that they do not.
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Toldos 5762Volume 22 · Issue 8
Handmade
that the sky conveys the work of the righteous through rain. Never does it rain except in merit of our prayers. The Talmud specifies the righteous, “And Your people are all righteous” (Yeshayahu 60:21). In any event, our prayer is the reason rain is called the work of God’s Hands.
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Shoftim 5765Volume 2 · Issue 1
Shofar: The Sound of Freedom
The Talmud states (Berachos 17a) that R’ Alexander, following the morning, afternoon, and evening Shemoneh Esray prayer, instead of the short prayer beginning “My Lord, protect etc.,” that we recite, would say, “Master of the worlds, it is revealed and known before You that our will is to do Your Will, but who prevents us?—the yeast
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Miketz Chanukah 5766Volume 2 · Issue 14
The Light of Faith
The emphasis of the miracle, then, is the triumph over the defilement of the Sanctuary. Yet, in the prayer of Al HaNissim, “For the miracles…,” it practically receives no mention. There, the discussion is of a different topic altogether. “When the wicked Greek Empire had risen up against Your People Israel to make them forget Your Torah and to remove
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Vayechi 5766Volume 2 · Issue 16
From the Depths of Despair
The Meshech Chochmah (to Vayikra 16:13) by the author of the Ohr Somayach writes that this is the meaning of our Yom Kippur prayer, “For you are the pardoner of Israel and the forgiver of the Tribes of Yeshurun.” “The pardoner of Israel” is for the sin of the Golden Calf, and “The forgiver of the Tribes of Yeshurun
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Mishpatim-Shekalim 5766Volume 2 · Issue 21
The Community of Israel
The Maharal explains that the first ten to arrive in the synagogue for communal prayer are the ones who form the entity of community, and all who come afterwards join the existing community. Certainly, every person adds, as it says (Mishlei 14:28), “A multitude of people is a king’s glory,” and other such
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Tetzaveh-Zachor 5766Volume 2 · Issue 23
One Man One Heart
Once I was walking on a path, and I entered one of the ruins of Jerusalem to pray. Eliyahu HaNavi, who is remembered for the good, arrived, and he waited for me by the door until I finished my prayer….
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Emor 5766Volume 2 · Issue 27
Crown of Splendor
On this note, the prayer states, “The Good One fashioned honor for His Name.” In other words, to reveal and actualize His goodness, the Creator fashioned the concept of honor for His Name, and when we fulfill the requirements of that honor, we can merit
